# Legal question: Indecent exposure in a car? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-indecent-exposure-in-a-car/335166 "2005-12-11T20:53:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chefIL11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chefIL11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefIL11)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-indecent-exposure-in-a-car/335166/1 "2005-12-11T20:53:47Z")
Over a couple of drinks last night, some friends and I got in a debate… Since your car is considered private property (or is it), can you legally be nude in your car? Would you be in violation of indecend exposure laws if it is private property? What about playing pornographic movies on an overhead TV screen that many SUV’s have? Is it legal to play this since it’s in your own car? Does having tinted windows change the outcome of these situations? Finally, I am basing this on the fact that cars are owned by a person and are private property… if that’s the case… (I know there are search and seizure limitations) wouldn’t being naked in your car equal to that of standing naked in front of the window of your house? Or is your car even considered private property? /I am fully clothed ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-indecent-exposure-in-a-car/335166/2 "2005-12-11T20:55:55Z")
RE: Pornography in the car. Tennessee passed a bill that outlaws the playing of pornography in cars. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-indecent-exposure-in-a-car/335166/3 "2005-12-11T21:03:39Z")
You can be nude or play porn in your own house but not with the windows opened for all the world to see. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-indecent-exposure-in-a-car/335166/4 "2005-12-11T21:17:12Z")
“In public” generally means in a place where one knows or has reason to know that one may be observed. So your car, while it is indeed private property, doesn’t protect you from charges of public indecency, lewd and lacivious conduct, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-indecent-exposure-in-a-car/335166/5 "2005-12-11T22:50:21Z")
If you are driving your car in public, there is no expectation of privacy there. If stood naked inside my clear plastic bubble in a public park, same result. Also, I read a story recently about a guy being citing for showing porn to kids because kids in the next car over could see porn in another car. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-indecent-exposure-in-a-car/335166/6 "2005-12-12T00:13:02Z")
A couple funny stories can shed light on this question. News of the Weird had a story about two years ago about a man in Pennsylvania who was arrested for indecent exposure in his car. He was driving naked, constantly honking the horn and “masturbating vigorously.” So we know you can’t do that. It’s good to have a starting point. When my friend Chuck was 20, he was living with his mom. His girlfriend was, too so they had to go to the old Quaker Cemetery at the end of the date. One nght, while they were in the back seat, a village cop pulled up behind them. The officer turned out to be a classmate of Chuck’s, and Chuck berated him for bothering them, at one point stepping out of the car in his underpants (tighty whiteys; this was the 80s) and arguing that the officer had no legal right to interfere with them. The officer, with his Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice, explained to him that, even though they were in their car, below the bottom of the windows, which were fogged up anyway, they were guilty of indecent exposure. If they had been parked on their own private property, the fact that they were not visible from outside would have made a difference. In most cases (including this one), a police officer will issue a verbal warning, once he has made sure the sexual activity is consensual (this was the part that got Chuck up and yelling). The officer can be a dick about it, though, and bust you anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-indecent-exposure-in-a-car/335166/7 "2005-12-12T03:28:38Z")
**saoirse** , that kind of thing happened to me too (I was even 20 at the time!). The officer politely pointed out that there were “more appropriate places for this kind of thing” and sent us on our way. ---
**Author:** ![ishamael69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@ishamael69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ishamael69)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-indecent-exposure-in-a-car/335166/8 "2005-12-12T14:32:09Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > You can be nude or play porn in your own house but not with the windows opened for all the world to see. Are you sure about that? I stand in my window almost naked quite frequently, and I would hate to be breaking the law. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-question-indecent-exposure-in-a-car/335166/9 "2005-12-12T14:41:42Z")
The laws in your jurisdiction may vary, but it goes back to what the definition of “in public” is. If your jurisdiction defines it as many do, as knowing or having reason to know one may be observed, then standing in your window naked may be illegal. But if you’re “almost naked” then it’s a different story. Depends on what’s covered and what isn’t.